It's not in the highs of life that people find the Lord. In fact, a lot of people forget even who God is until they need Him.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23 KJV)
David wrote this Psalm in one of the valleys of his life. You see he made some pretty bad mistakes, and mistakes tend to catch up with us. From his beginnings serving King Saul, he was targeted. In fact, it is said that while he was playing his instrument that the king would shoot at him. Later in life, he fell into temptation and lay with another man's wife. To make matters worse, David had the man killed. Then Bathsheba gave birth to their child only to have God strike the boy dead. From being chased by King Saul's men, to his own child trying to murder him King David definitely knew persecution.
I love this Psalm. Throughout our lives, we will experience hills and valleys of our own. This Psalm talks about faith, faith that because God has anointed us and even though we are seated before our enemies, God will bring goodness and mercy into our lives, and we will live in the house of the Lord forever.
When I first became a Christian, there was a song entitled "I'll Walk by Faith," by Jeremy Camp. The backstory to this song is his wife was dying of cancer and laying in her hospital bed, she asked him to play a song on his guitar. As she lay there dying she lifted her hands high and praised God. Just the thought of that still brings tears to my eyes.
Many people remember God in their troubles usually crying out to Him in the pits of life's turmoils. He is there for us then, just as he is there for us in our mountain peaks. What if WE started praising Him during the storms of our lives?
I daresay that it may change our perspectives and maybe then we could sit at the table set before our enemies.
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